These are the faces of Colchester soldiers gunned down in Iraq.

And the incident which sparked the killings of the six Royal Military Police was today blamed on a "misunderstanding".

Corporal Russell Aston

Former Colchester-based 16 Air Assault Brigade Commander and now leading British troops in Iraq, Major General Peter Wall said the crowd violence which led to eight Paras being wounded in a firefight seemed "to have stemmed from a misunderstanding."

He offered no explanation for the two-hour police station siege, which left six 156 Provost Company members dead, amid claims that four of the men might have been executed with their own guns.

Reports had claimed that all the violence was triggered by anger over allegedly heavy-handed weapons searches.

Local Iraqi leaders said British troops had agreed to delay the searches after a meeting when townspeople of Al Majar al-Kabir had told of their growing unrest.

Lance Corporal Benjamin Hyde

But Maj Gen Wall said the Paras, who went into the town just hours before the six Red Caps were killed, were on a "routine joint patrol" with local militia after weapons searches were abandoned after local protests.

"The crowd violence appears to have stemmed from a misunderstanding," he said.

British troops in the area are hunting the killers.

Brought to you by the Evening Gazette